


Quite Like You

by SpideychelleCarwheelerTrash



Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: College AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-08-04 23:19:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16356209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpideychelleCarwheelerTrash/pseuds/SpideychelleCarwheelerTrash
Summary: Peter is caught off-guard after meeting MJ for their first date in months.





	Quite Like You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kirrstin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kirrstin/gifts).



Peter isn’t an idiot, he knew when they first left for college that he wouldn’t be seeing MJ as often as he did at Midtown.

He knows that they’re both going to be busy, with Peter at MIT and MJ in law school. He knows that they aren’t going to see each other every day, that it’ll be harder to keep in touch and they’re both going to have to put forth an effort to do so. He knows that long-distance relationships are much harder to maintain. But he knows that MJ is the most determined person that he knows, and he knows that he is never going to let her go. 

Still, he doesn’t realize until she is several states away exactly how much he different it will be from Midtown. Peter settles in well in college, rooming with Ned and making a few new friends as a group. But he still misses MJ more than he ever imagined. 

All of a sudden, they aren’t eating lunch every day. When they marathon movies at night with homework in their laps, MJ is not perched in the armchair across from Peter and Ned with a book in hand and a sarcastic comment on her lips. When one of the guys behind Peter in class makes a sexist comment, MJ is not by his side when he turns to watch her tell him off. Peter tells him off instead, easily, but the whole time he can feel the empty space beside him where Michelle Jones is not. 

They video chat, almost every other night. Seeing her face through his computer screen is the highlight of his week, curled up on the sofa while her roommates blare music in the background on girl’s night. He loves listening to the cases she’s researching, the little clauses that she had no idea existed, and the million ways every single case in the media could go. He doesn’t have anything nearly as interesting to say, and he doesn’t care. He would much rather listen to her talk about what she’s learning and watch the passion dance in her eyes.

He’s going to get to see that passion firsthand on their date tonight, and that’s why he pushes the speed limit all the way to New York. 

MJ is living in a dorm with her roommate, Chandra, who is majoring in fashion design. The two have settled in well, according to MJ, and Chandra appears on the screen every so often to tell MJ when she actually has to go and do homework. Peter is interested in meeting her, sure, but as he pulls up to the dorm all she can think about is seeing MJ. 

Peter memorized the directions she sent him the night before, so it takes him less than ten minutes to cross the campus and reach her dorms. Maybe he should be taking his time and looking at the scenery; he’s already on course to be fifteen minutes early. But as Peter pulls up outside her door twelve minutes later, he knows that he couldn’t have possibly waited any longer. 

He’s too close to everything that he’s been daydreaming about for months. 

His knock is quick and hurried, three short raps of his knuckles against the door. The sound of his blood rushing into his ears drowns the sound out as he waits, tugging the rolled up sleeves of his button down. For a moment, the nerves of it all wash over him... Does he look alright? What if his hair is a mess from running, or his buttons are done wrong? Before he can spend too much time worrying about it, however, the door opens. 

Peter’s eyes are wide as they meet the large, dark eyes of a girl much taller than he is. Her short hair is cut into an angular bob, and she wears lipstick of a deep plum that is applied impeccably. The girl looks him up and down with an arched eyebrow before pursing her lips and nodding. “Hmm, I get it now,” she comments, leaving him standing there, frozen, to wonder what the hell she’s talking about. She doesn’t say anything else, only turns and leaves the door open. “Come in!” 

Peter swallows and steps into the room, glancing over his shoulder as he does so. MJ’s told him about her dorm; it’s a shared suite, which means she gets her own room. This one is clearly not hers, since her assortment of posters is nowhere in sight. Instead, the room is decorated elegantly in shades of violet. The girl who let him in has vanished into the door at one end of the room, leaving Peter to stand there awkwardly. 

After a moment, there is the sound of the knob turning, and Peter perks up. When he turns, however, Peter is greeted by the same girl who let him in. “Oh, um... Hi,” he says quickly, trying to disguise his disappointment. 

For the first time, lips colored with deep purple twitch upward as the girl brushes past him to sit on her bed. “Don’t worry,” she comments, reaching for a silver pen and a sketchbook, where Peter can see partially-drawn human figures. “She’s coming, she’s just finishing getting ready. I’m Chandra, by the way.” 

“I remember,” Peter replies quickly, moving to lean against the wall as he offers her a small smile. “I’ve seen you before, I think. On the video chats.” 

“Good, you’ve passed test number one,” the girl comments, though as she looks up her eyes have a teasing gleam. “Nice to see you in person... I know Em is excited to see you.” 

Peter runs over the strange nickname in his mind. That’s new... It’s pretty, though. “I’m excited to see her,” he admits with a small grin, running a hand through his hair. 

“You should be,”  Chandra replies, and there is a mischievous gleam in her eye. “You’re _so_ lucky I’m her roommate.”

For a moment, Peter’s brow furrows in confusion. “I”m sorry,” he begins, blinking several times. “Um, what are you talking about?” 

Chandra doesn’t answer, but her smirk only grows. She just shakes her head with a knowing look in her eyes. Before Peter can press her for further information, however, the doorknob is turning and so is Peter to face the doorway. 

As soon as the door opens, Peter’s jaw drops.

It’s MJ, but different than he’s ever seen her before. Her hair has been cut since the last time they talked, hovering just above her shoulders in a cloud of soft, brown curls that frame her face like an angel’s halo. She wears a pair of faded jeans and a top the color of Cabernet, one that bares the smooth skin of her shoulders and brings out the richness of her skin perfectly. Her lips are a pale pink, and her lashes are thick and dark, and every inch of her face is something that Peter drinks in greedily. It is not pixellated and lagging, the way that it has been every time that Peter has seen it for the past few months. 

Her face is perfect, because it is only feet away from his own.

At first, MJ doesn’t appear to notice them as she struggles with one of two silver earrings. “Chan, mind helping me put this one in? It’s being about as helpful as an Apple update-”

Her voice cuts off as MJ raises her eyes to his, and Peter catches his breath in his throat. Surprise flashes in the depths of her warm irises, the color of burnt sienna as he takes them in. MJ’s hands slowly lower from her ear, lowering the clearly forgotten earring to a hanging shelf on the wall as she blinks several times. For a moment, the room is completely quiet, with Peter and MJ staring one another down as Chandra quietly observes. Peter isn’t quite sure what he’s expecting.

“Ever heard of knocking, loser?”

Immediately, Peter can feel his heart soar. Before he even knows what he’s doing, Peter has crossed the room and is wrapping his arms around her, burying his face in her hair. It smells good, like citrus shampoo and the perfume he sent her for Christmas, and the scent is so good that Peter wishes he could bottle it up and bring it with him.

At first, MJ stiffens, but after a moment he can feel her arms slide around his back to cradle him close as her lips brush against his temple. Neither one of them moves for a moment, each breathing the other in in a moment that is charged with so much electricity that it tingles up and down Peter’s entire body. Then, after a moment, Peter can feel her warm breath against his ear.

“You know, Parker,” she breathes, and Peter tilts his head slightly so that he has no chance of missing her next words. “You’re embarrassing in front of my roommate.”

A little laugh bubbles out of Peter’s lips, breathless as he pulls away just enough that he can meet her eyes. They are shining, and her lips are pulled up into a little smirk as she takes him in. Still, Peter is not deceived- he can see that she, too, is struggling to draw breath, and there is a rosy hue creeping up her neck to the tips of her ears.

“Sorry,” he hums, moving his arms so they wrap around the taller girl’s neck. Peter spends one minute longer taking her in, moving to gently stroke the edge of her lips as he whispers, “I’ve just never seen anything quite like you tonight.


End file.
